Robert Fripp's Diary

Bredonborough In response to an

12.48

Bredonborough.

In response to an e-enquiry - how did the discovery of JGB affect your approach to music? - from a respected correspondent…

No brief answer to this. JGB & Sherborne House developed the practical side of what, until then, was mainly bright ideas but without much in the way of practical understanding. My hunch is that a lot of the info was already hard-wired but that I didn’t know the way the way to the electricity or the switch. The hard-wiring is in the essence, and this is the way to the objective. The subjective is in the personality. Both are necessary. A well-developed & rounded personality enables the essence to be nourished. In a musical sense, acquired musical skill is an instrument placed at the service of the Muse. Discipline enables us to hold ourselves in place while this happens.

Another e-enquiry, this time regarding an application to license the KC Eyes Wide Open DVD, arrived on Friday with a suggested gross fee. I replied, asking for the net available to KC. No reply came and, reflecting on the offer over the weekend, I replied this morning: i’ve given this some consideration and decided, no (to the offer).

Title: King Crimson: Eyes Wide Open (100’)

Territory: A European Country

Broadcaster: Channel Anonymous

Rights: Exclusive terrestrial, cable & satellite

License period: 1st May 2005 – 30th April 2007

Runs: 8 (Eight)

Gross license fee: €1,200

Immediately a reply in return, accepting the no and asking Just out of interest, I would be grateful if you could advise why you don’t want to do this deal? From my reply…

i hadn’t heard back from you re: the net license fee to KC, but the difference between net & gross wouldn’t have added up to much. and i don’t understand why the license period begins on 1 may 2005 when it’s now 03 april 2006. assuming KC received the gross...

8 runs @ €1,200 = €150 per showing

RF = 25% of €150 = €37.5 per showing.

so, one minute of the working life of a KC member = €0.375 for tv showing on all formats in (a Euro country). that’s a bargain!

if you asked, am i prepared to present KC music for free to a hungry audience, the answer is yes; providing all the other people involved do the same, and i assume Channel Anonymous executives & employees work at a higher rate than is offered for KC.

the overall assumption is this: artists present their work for free (or next to it) as "promotion". what are we promoting? and if we are promoting, why is the artist the only person working for nothing? much of my own work is pro bono, so i have no difficulty in principle with the concept. but if Channel Anonymous were a pro bono presenter, they would suggest a non-exclusive license. as it is, asking for an exclusive license in all tv formats for 8 showings, for a payment of nothing, is tantamount to expecting content to be provided gratis by artists. i find this insulting.

22.20  DGM HQ.

At 18.34 the Slinky Minx was pleading for me to stay at home with her, then I left for a 100 mile drive to DGM. Stonehenge was silhouetted against the dusk sky, but my Wife is more beautiful even than that.

Devil Bug has not yet relinquished its grasp upon me. In some respects, I feel better; in others, worse. So I went to Bredonborough surgery this afternoon & am adding allopathy to homeopathy that I might arrive in Argentina next Monday radiating health.

22.59  On Krimson News…

Has anybody but me wondered why all these guitar lessons with Mr Fripp include Fracture?… Wouldn’t it be better to start out with the Guitar Craft version of Chopsticks…?

I’m not sure where Mr. Spray gets his info on GC instruction, but Fracture has yet to feature. The lesson featuring two RF moto perpetuos were at the initiative of Anthony Garone who might respond to enquiry. The only “lesson” I recall (using a one bar excerpt from) Fracture was with Steven Wilson & Wes Hardin in Berkeley last year.

Norbert Fragg has returned to the world stage with his new music form: Soundscrapes while continuing to promote his legendary combo Thing Dismal.

Now, some practising before yielding to the blandishments of the floor.